DOCUMENTS

Julius Malema’s lawyers write to ANC MP regarding abuse claims

ANC MP must apologise or further legal action in form of damages of R1m will be pursued

Mrs Mantwa Malema’s Lawyers have written a letter to the ANC MP who made false claims of Domestic and Gender Based Violence.

19 February 2020

Dear Sir,

RE: DEFAMATORY STATEMENTS MADE AGAINST MS MANTOA MATLALA TO SOWETAN NEWSPAPER

The above refers.

We confirm that we act on behalf of Ms Mantoa Matlala, the wife of Mr Julius Malema, the President and Commander in Chief of the Economic Freedom Fighters ("our client').

Our client has approached our offices in regard to the defamatory statements made against her by you.

As you are well aware, these defamatory statements were made by you during the State of the Nation Address in Parliament, and furthermore, repeated to the Sowetan Newspaper to be published in an article dated 17 of February 2020.

The defamatory statements referred to hereinabove are:

Mantwa [Malema's wife] was abused at home by honourable Malema ..."

-“They wont deny it because it's true..."

-"It was nothing personal, I merely raised a point that we were being abused in the same manner that Malema's wife is being abused. That's why he didn't even respond, because its true…”

A copy of the Sowetan newspaper article is attached hereto as annexure "A"

Your defamatory statements referred to herein above gravely disappoint our client. To proceed to mock victims of Gender Based Violence, especially in the current climate our country is facing, by accusing innocent people of it just to tarnish their image or "settle a score" is unacceptable of a person in our current society, most especially a person who is a member of parliament. Our client is disgusted by Gender Based Violence and the rate in which more and more women are abused in South Africa. Should the accusations levelled against our client and her husband have any merit whatsoever, our client would have attended to the nearest police station to report same. Our client does not require you to be her voice.

As you may, or may not, be aware, our client has small children, the oldest being 13 years old. Your false accusations have now cast a dark cloud over the entire family.

These children now need to attend schooling and be mocked and ridiculed due to the false accusations levelled against their parents. Your false accusations have caused grave harm and damage to the family.

Our client furthermore regards your false defamatory statements an abuse to her physically and emotionally and thereby extension, an abuse to her children.

For any avoidance of doubt, we hereby repeat that your allegations are vexatious, misplaced, spurious and untrue.

We are further instructed that you have no evidence of any of your allegations. Self-evidently, therefore, there is no factual basis to your claims. The importance of this admission regarding your liability to our client for such defamatory statements cannot be overstated.

In light of the above, we hereby demand that:

you retract the statements made against our client;

your retraction is to take the form of a public statement in which you, inter alia:

- apologise to our client for the allegations made; and

- you retract the statements made against our client on account of them being untrue and defamatory of our client;

the public statement is to be shared by you on all your social media accounts,including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram;

the public statement is to be issued as a press statement in your name. To that end:

- it must be sent by you to all media houses with which you haveconducted interviews; and

- the EFF will also distribute your public statement via its Communications Department to all the media houses whose contact details it possesses.

The demand in para above is to be given effect to by close of business on Wednesday, 19 February 2020.

Should you fail to do so, we hold instructions to institute further legal action against you which action we will institute damages against our client in the amount of RI 000 000,00 (One million Rand) and seek punitive costs against you.

Please be guided accordingly.

Yours faithfully,

IAN LEVITT ATTORNEYS

SENT ELECTRONICALL Y AND THEREFORE UNSIGNED